Samantha Woll case update: ‘Stranger’ charged with murder of Detroit synagogue leader

Police have accused a “stranger” of killing a Detroit synagogue leader and said the killing occurred during a home invasion.

Samantha Wall, 40, was fatally stabbed in her Lafayette Park home on Oct. 21 while returning from a wedding.

Police believe she was attacked inside the home and then went outside. She was found around 6:30 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, of Detroit, was taken into custody Sunday and charged with murder and two other crimes. His name and charges were not released until Wednesday.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said there was “not a shred of evidence” that Wall was killed as a result of anti-Semitism or any hate crime.

Wall was stabbed multiple times and left a trail of blood leading to her home.

There were initially fears that she had been killed in a hate crime because she was the board chair of the Isaac Agri Synagogue in the city center.

But authorities denied this information and said there was no evidence that she was killed because of anti-Semitism.

“There are no facts to suggest that this defendant knew Ms. Wall,” Worthy said.

Police said the suspect was in custody over the weekend. Another person in custody was released in November.

“This was an extremely sad and tragic incident,” Worthy said. He added: “It takes time. We never want to rush to judgment.”

Jackson-Bolanos was also charged with breaking and entering without permission and lying to a peace officer.

Detroit Police Chief James White said the suspect was first identified by police several weeks ago when he was investigated for a theft in Wall’s neighborhood.

But he “ran out of time” and was forced to let him go. “After he was released, we followed him until we had enough assets to ultimately make an arrest,” White said.

The police chief declined to discuss specific aspects of the case, including what links Jackson-Bolanos to Wall’s murder.

“No one in our community was ever put at risk,” White added.

Prosecutor Worthy said Wall’s family had been notified of the arrest.

Sunday’s announcement that the man was in custody was the second in two months and comes after investigators said in November they had detained someone and released him without further explanation three days later.

Worthy clarified that it was not the same person.

In the weeks following Wall’s death, police interviewed several persons of interest.

An unknown man was arrested in the Kalamazoo area on November 8th. However, he was released without charge the following weekend.

At the time, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said the man was released due to a lack of police paperwork, including a warrant request.

However, unnamed sources told WDIV that the suspect made ambiguous statements to detectives that were not enough to bring murder charges.

The suspect had reportedly stopped talking to police by the time he was transported to the Detroit area and hired a lawyer.

Under Michigan law, suspects cannot be held without charge for more than three days.

Wall’s death comes at a time of heightened tensions and a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the United States following conflict in the Middle East.

“Everyone really wants the perpetrator to be found and brought to justice,” Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, previously said.

“Of course it won’t bring Sam back, but it will provide some closure, which is important for everyone who knew her and for the entire community.”

The Wayne County Public Defenders Office did not immediately respond to questions about whether it was representing Jackson-Bolanos or comment on his case.

In addition to her work at the synagogue, Wall worked for Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and the political campaign of state Attorney General Dana Nessel.